Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Wanted: 30-30 Win barrel for 1899 Savage takedown rifle

I own a 1914 example of the 1899 H lightweight takedown variation of that innovative Savage Rifle in 22 Hi-Power. To increase its versatility and ease the availability of ammunition, I seek an additional barrel in 30-30 Winchester. Is anyone willing to part with a clean bore barrel with a decent finish for less than $300?

Savage offered the 1899-H in .30-30/.303 and .25-35 but not with the .22HP. The rotor (an d possibly the cartridge guide)in the .22HP is different. So you might take your barrel off and see if you can cycle .30-30 rounds throught the magazine. You could always just single load it.

Finding a barrel, fitting it and getting it to work with your current forearm might get pricey. I'd recommend buying a second rifle.

While we are rummaging through the parts bins I need an 1899H 25-35 barrel from about 1911. I have a 303 1899H that was shipped with a second (25-35) barrel to Sheard in Tacoma.
BillR

I have a 30-30 takedown barrel with a style 6 barrel address[1927].Don't know if this would accommadate your needs.If it does send me a P.M. Doug

Rick,

I had an 1899H t/d with a 303 barrel on it. It would only take 4 rounds into the rotor and chamber, but would cycle and fire the 4 roundsfine. I took it apart to find out what the issue was and it turned out that the rotor was a 22hp rotor. I swapped out the rotor for a 303 without any other changes and it work fine.

Blair

Doug, your barrel is medium weight with a ramp front sight, correct? The barrel would work but will need a different forearm for the heavier barrel or open up the original.

Rick;
22" barrel, but not the raised ramp front site

Good information all around. Many thanks. Honestly, I'm not certain my rifle is an H model. Maybe y'all can tell me. According to the Savage 99 site, my serial number indicates a 1914 manufacture. It is a straight stock with a featherweight 20 inch barrel originally manufactured for 22 Hi-Power and is a takedown. The front sight is a pinned brass blade and the rear sight is the classic Savage twin elevator type. The stock is straight with a rubber Savage butt plate. Your help will be much appreciated. Could be I should've asked this question first but I'm new at this business.

it is an 1899H.

Thanks for that confirmation Drew.

I just spoke with Dan Pederson, a gunsmith who has experience with these rifles, and he reports that rifles of this kind use different locking mechanisms and there's no way to know if they will interchange without direct inspection. My estimation now is that it was not a feasible undertaking. Thanks you all for your time and contributions to my inquiry, especially Doug. Perdersen, Classic Barrel and Gun Works, can rebore my own extra barrel in 22 HP to 30-30 Win for around $300. I may do that after the hunting season.

did you ever check to see if the magazine will accept .30-30 ammunition?

22H.P. ammo will work in a 30-30 rotor, but 30-30 wont work in a 22 H.P. rotor without opening the neck area up. and all the savage takedown rifles use the same takedown action ,but the barrels do not all index the same. Don

loggah,
I talked with Dan Pedersen, a gunsmith with much experience with Savage rifle who reported that of the 1895's, 1899's and 99's there are at least three distinct types of "takedown action" and are not as interchangeable as one might imagine. He reported some were "quarter turn" others were square thread and others were "V thread." I'm not sure I have correctly related what he said but I was convinced that my experiment was probably fruitless and abandoned it.

not sure they ever made a V-thread take-down... and I can not think of why a quarter turn would not work on a full thread or vice versa... I know I have seen some that were swapped.

Dan is a great and well respected barrel borer but I have never known his name to be associated with Savage 99s or to be in any way an expert on the 99.

The 1/4 turn receivers will take both a 1/4 turn barrel and a full thread barrel,both have square threads, the factory never offered a standard takedown rifle with V threads . The V thread rifles were produced after serial number 1,000,000 around 1960,the last takedown rifles were made in the early 1940's. Don

+1000 What Loggah said.

many thanks for that information but I have concluded that the pursuit of an interchangeable barrel for my old gun is not a worthwhile experiment. I will go another route.

A worthwhile experiment if you stick with cartridges based on what fits in the rotor, or don't mind swapping out rotors occasionally, or don't mind loading singly (not a bad proposition if all you'll be doing is playing at the range).

How would I determine the nature of the box magazine rotor? How could I determine if the rotor was specifically made for 22 Hi-Power or the more generic rotor made for the slightly larger caliber 30-30 Winchester? If I were to remove the barrel, would 30-30 Winchester rounds cycle through the rotary magazine or would they jamb?